The Far Table in the Back
by snelbyshyder
Summary: Say hello to the next multi-chapter endeavor I have for you! Based off the recent movie, starring Anna Kendrick, Table 19, I figured who better to use from that inspiration than our wonderful Aelin A. Galathynius. I haven't written a ToG fic in a hot minute, so I'll also be re-reading the books as I go.
1. Teaser

Walking up to the double doors at the back of the ballroom, Aelin stopped and closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she pressed the heels of her hands to her forehead.

"Gah, why am I even here?" She groaned, letting her arms fall back to her sides. Her head hung forward and the loose French braid that she'd tied her hair back in slipped over her shoulder. Gathering her wits with one or two more quiet seconds alone, she looked down at her ensemble. A flowy, peach shift dress, wooden wedges, and silver pieces of jewelry here and there. Tucking a few wayward hairs behind her ear, Aelin took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping over the threshold into the crowded ballroom.

She walked to the table proudly set up in the entryway, holding a large map of the room with drawings of the table setups.

She knew the layouts with her eyes closed, she could have told you where every single person in this room was going to be sitting, forwards and backward.

 _Table One_

 _Aedion Ashryver – Groom_

 _Lysandra Ashryver - Bride_

 _Rowan Whitethorn – Best Man_

 _Maeve Doranellia – Maid of Honor_

The rest became a bit of a blur as she noticed the final name had been re-labeled.

Sniffling, she scanned the list for her own name; with a start, she found it.

The last name on the list, at the far table in the back.

 _Aelin Galathynius_

Picking up her tame tag, she headed to the table hidden partially behind a speaker and a curtain, taking the first seat, where she'd still be able to see the dancefloor in the middle of the room. She also noticed, with an unhappy sigh, that no matter where she was sitting at the round table, thanks to the small platform it sat on at the front of the room, she'd be able to see Table 1.

Leaving her purse in the seat and placing her name tag on the plate, Aelin left the table and headed for the small bathroom in the back of the room. Throwing the lock on the deadbolt behind her, she leaned her head against the door and closed her eyes.

It had only been 3 minutes and she was already ready to be curled up in her hotel room with a Nicholas Sparks movie and the carton of ice cream she had stashed in the mini fridge.

The locked the knob jingled and she heard three timid knocks on the door. Clearing her throat, she said in a loud voice, "Just a second."

Sighing, Aelin braced her hands on the porcelain sink.

This was going to be a _long_ night.


	2. Chapter 1

Walking into the large ballroom, Emrys and Malachi Mistfall held onto their name tags. They glanced around the room until their eyes fell on a table, almost obscured by a curtain meant to divide off the unused section of the room.

"Wonderful," Malachi mumbled under his breath, earning a quick smack from Emrys to the arm.

"Hush," he breathed. "It was very kind of the Ashryver's to remember and invite an old couple like us."

As they approached the table, they saw that one seat had already been claimed, and as kind as Emrys was, the old man was also extremely nosy. He peeked a glance at the card and read "Aelin Galathynius". Since it wasn't a name he recognized, he simply shrugged and took a seat across the table from the name tag, next to his husband.

Making small talk as they looked around at the crowded room, they noticed a beautiful girl walking towards them. Emrys wasn't sure what her most striking feature was: her white hair, hanging sleekly down her back; her piercing, golden eyes, outlined in black; or her blood-red lips. She looked down at Aelin's nametag and rolled her eyes, electing to sit a chair away from Malachi and a couple away from Aelin. She reached into the black leather clutch for her cell phone.

"How do you know the happy couple?" Emrys asked, smiling warmly at the girl.

Those molten gold eyes slid away from the screen of her phone and assessed the faces of the men at her table.

"My grandmother and the bride's father were business partners back in the day. She had business out of the country, so I came in her place." Her voice was like a siren's song, lilting notes sound musical where he'd never heard anything like it before.

"That's very kind of you, Mrs…?" Emrys let the sentence trail off into a question.

"Manon. Manon Blackbeak, and its 'Miss', I'm not married."

"Well that's good to know," a deep voice said from the front of the table. Silver eyes and auburn hair, the man looked to be in his mid-thirties. Manon fought the urge to scrunch her nose in disgust. She had to say this was a new record. Most creeps usually waited for her to at least have a drink in her hand before hitting on her.

"Just because I'm not married, doesn't mean I'm single." She spit back, not having any patience to deal with a bachelor only interested in getting her naked in his hotel room after the reception.

"Oh?" He said, taking a seat across from her next to Emrys, who visibly cringed a bit in such proximity of the man and his overbearing cologne.

"Yes," Manon smoothly said, as she glanced up and locked gazed with the most gorgeous set of blue eyes she'd ever seen. "Here he comes now."

Standing from her seat, she walked to the man. Resting a hand on his chest, she leaned up to kiss his cheek and whispered in his ear, "You don't have a date, do you?"

She saw that he had tensed a bit from the shock of her invading his personal space, so she leaned back and smiled the sweetest smile she could muster.

His dark eyebrows rose. "No."

"Wonderful, you do now." She clasped her hand in his and pulled him to the table, which it seemed he was already heading for. She sat in her seat and he sat in the one next to her, looking around at the men already gathered there.

"And what's his name?" Silver eyes asked. Manon leveled him a look and gold met silver.

"Dorian Havilliard," he said, clearing his throat. "And you are?"

The man tore his gaze from Manon and looked at Dorian. "Hamel. Arrobyn Hamel."

Dorian nodded and turned to the older couple to his left, on the side of Manon. A genuine smile took over his handsome features. "And you two?"

"I'm Emrys, and this is my husband, Malachi. We were close with the groom's mother growing up. Practically a second set of parents. Do you know the couple as well or did you come as Manon's plus one?"

Dorian gave the two an affectionate smile and practically jumped out of his chair when an acrylic tipped hand rested on his knee. He looked up from her metallic nails to the girl's golden eyes.

"I grew up with Aedion. We fell out of touch in high school, but his mother and mine were close. So I decided why not come."

"Then why are you sitting back here if you grew up with him?" Arrobyn asked, leaning back in his chair.

Dorian opened his mouth, but Manon answered for him. "He volunteered to sit with me, since there was no room for me at his table."

The lie settled among the people and Arrobyn narrowed his eyes. It was as if he could sense that it wasn't the truth. He looked as if he was about to respond, but a crashing noise could be heard from the hallway, followed by a muffled, "Sorry!"

As one, the table all looked to the doorway and saw a teenage boy stumble in, brushing his hands down the front of his ill-fitting suit. He glanced around the room until his eyes landed on their table and he raised a hand in a wave before making his way over.

"Hi, my name's Luca!" He sat down in the chair next to Arrobyn and the man gave the boy a sideways glance. The table said their greetings and Luca continued on, saying, "I'm so happy to be here! Aedion was my favorite instructor when I took karate, so I was so excited when he asked me to come!"

The older couple gave him a kind smile, as did Dorian, though he was thankful the exuberant teen was forced to choose the chair next to Arrobyn, since there was a purse occupying the final seat. The small name tag sitting atop the plate read "Aelin Galathynius", his mind pricking as the name rang with familiarity. He wondered who and where she was.

"So where exactly is our last neighbor for the evening?" Arrobyn asked, practically taking the thought straight from Dorian's mind.

In the hallway, emerging from the bathroom, Aelin allowed herself to look at the large picture frame containing countless pictures of her cousin and best friend. She smiled at the picture, thanking the gods that she finally convinced Lysandra to go out with Aedion three years ago. She hadn't ever seen either of them smile that much and she let herself reminisce on the old days when they were all happy.

She heard laughter from farther down the hallway, at the main entrance. There was a sign denoting the right was the Ashryver/Caraverre wedding, while if you took a left, another wedding was down that hall. As green dresses and gray tailored suits filled the hallway, Aelin quickly tried to blend in with the sparse amount of people still waiting outside the ballroom. The voices and laughter grew louder and Aelin found herself absolutely entranced by the pattern on the table cloth the name tags were sitting on, running her finger up and around the swirl to keep from having to look over her shoulder. One voice stood out from the rest. "Uh, hey, I'll catch up with you inside."

Aelin continued to follow the pattern on the tablecloth, even as she heard, "What are you doing here, A's?"

She didn't miss a beat, her finger continuing to slip over the fabric. "Same as you. For Aedion and Lysandra's wedding."

"I'm the best man." Ouch. Whether or not he meant to wound her, his words stung.

"Point taken," she said and tried to slip by him.

He grabbed her arm, but she yanked out of his grip. "That's not what I meant, I just…"

His voice trailed off and for the first time, Aelin turned around to look at him. She felt like crying just at the sight of him. Rowan Whitethorn was just as handsome as the first time she'd laid eyes on him and as heartbreaking as the last time. His hair, which had been shorter, was beginning to grow back out like it had been when she'd first met him. The green tie and pocket square made his eyes shine their true pine green color and the dark tattoo that snaked from the tips of his fingers, up his arm, down his body, and onto his face was a stark contrast to the light gray of his fitted suit.

"We didn't expect to see you today," he said quietly and Aelin glanced up to see him looking at her. "I get a voicemail telling me to warn Lysandra not to open your RSVP, which was burnt, by the way, if you want to explain that? Then I get one saying you aren't coming and then one saying you are and then one telling me to ignore everything I've gotten from you."

Aelin shrugged and Rowan dragged a hand through his hair. Exasperated, he said, "Look, today is about Aedion and Lys, just don't-."

"Don't do what, Rowan?" Aelin said, an edge to her voice when she heard the tone of his.

"Don't go crazy!" He said, and when a few people turned around, he gave them a forced smile and turned back to her, lowering his voice. "Don't become the fire-breathing bitch queen. Not today. This is their day."

Without another word, he walked away, and Aelin stared after him, not sure if she should even go into the reception or turn around and head up to her room instead.


End file.
